Location

Description

Do you want to join a community of primary school teachers from Dutch and international primary schools who will be among the first in the Netherlands to introduce computer science and computational thinking lessons in their schools?

Designed for teachers who have never taught technology or coding-related classes before, this training program will focus on training teachers to teach technological literacy and fundamental computer science concepts which underlie all technology to students ages 4-12.

This program will be taught in English so participants must be able to understand, speak and read basic English.

Teachers from the following schools have previously completed this course: Basisschool de Fakkel (Utrecht), 10e Montessorischool de Meidoorn (Amsterdam), Laterna Magica (Amsterdam), American School of the Hague, American International School of Rotterdam (AISR), International School Eindhoven (ISE), Amsterdam International Community School (AICS), de Blijberg Primary School (Rotterdam), OBS de Stap (Landsmeer), Annie MG Schmidtschool (Amsterdam), de Klein Dichter School (Utrecht), Basisschool de Brink (Amsterdam), Hildebrand- van Loonschool (Amsterdam), Nicolaasschool (Ijsselstein), International Primary School Almere, and de Blauwe Lijn School (Amsterdam).

About the Program

During this program, teachers will attend five (5) training sessions given by the Stichting NewTechKids team. They will learn about appropriate pedagogy, teaching approaches and classroom management strategies and receive training to teach five computer science lessons developed by Stichting NewTechKids.

The teacher training will follow a Finnish approach. Dr. Marja-Ilona Koski, a former computer science primary school teacher in Finland, will give the training. She completed a Ph.D at TU Delft focused on effective ways to teach science and technology education and train teachers.

Why: Many children are great at using technology. However, most have no idea how and why technology works. Introducing computer science, technological literacy and computational thinking in school is critical to prepare them for a world of constant and rapid automation and technological development and for future study and work opportunities.

Requirements

Participating teachers must commit to:

1) attending all five training sessions at OBA;2) teaching the five computer science lessons they learn during the program in their classrooms and;3) sharing feedback and ideas with the group and on Share to Teach, Stichting NewTechKids online teacher training platform.

Application Process

A limited number of spots are available. Teachers in Dutch and international primary schools in the Netherlands are invited to apply by completing the attached form. Preference will be given to:- teachers from schools where at least two teachers apply to encourage peer support and collaboration.- teachers from schools in disadvantaged communities eg. Amsterdam southeast, Amsterdam New West.

The application phase will close on Tuesday, April 3, 2018. Stichting NewTechKids will make a selection and inform successful applicants on a rolling basis from now until April 3rd.

Selected participants are required to make a deposit of 100 euro which will be returned on condition that they attend all five training sessions, teach all five lessons and post on the Share to Teach Web site.

Donors and Partners

This training program has been made possible through a generous donation from the 4K 4Charity Fun Run which is produced every year during the IBC Show in Amsterdam by AWS Elemental, a technology company based in Portland, Oregon. Stichting NewTechKids received part of the Run's proceeds to support our mission of bringing technology education to a more diverse and inclusive group of students and teachers.

We are organising the program in partnership with Maakplaats 021, the Amsterdam Municipal Library’s initiative to offer Maker spaces in its branches.